Daily Meditations
Read today's Just for Today or A Spiritual Principle A Day readings.
Just for Today
March 30, 2026 |
God-centeredness |
| Page 92 |
| "Gradually, as we become more God-centered than self-centered, our despair turns to hope." |
| Basic Text, p. 95 |
| What a glorious thing to have hope! Before coming to Narcotics Anonymous, many of us lived lives of utter hopelessness. We believed we were destined to die from our disease. Many members speak of being on a "pink cloud" their first months in the program. We've stopped using, made some friends, and life looks promising. Things are going great. Then reality sets in. Life is still life--we still lose jobs, our partners still leave us, friends still die, we still get sick. Abstinence is no guarantee that life will always go our way. When the reality of life on its own terms sets in, we turn to our Higher Power and remember that life happens the way life happens. But no matter what occurs in our recovery we need not despair, for there is always hope. That hope lies in our relationship with our Higher Power. This relationship, as expressed by the thought in our text, develops over time: "Gradually we become more God-centered." As we rely more and more on the strength of our Higher Power, life's struggles don't have to drag us into the sea of despair. As we focus more on God, we focus less on ourselves. |
| Just for Today: I will rely on my Higher Power. I will accept that, regardless of what happens, my Higher Power will provide me with the resources to live with it. |
A Spiritual Principle a Day
March 30, 2026 |
Putting We Before Me with Anonymity |
| Page 92 |
| "In keeping with Tradition Twelve, the \'I\' becomes \'we.\' The spiritual foundation becomes more important than any one group or individual." |
| Basic Text, Chapter 6, |
| Thanks to the Twelve Traditions, everything that happens in NA is done by us and for us. A member who was a newcomer when the Basic Text was being written shared that this was one of the qualities of NA that made her stay: \"At six months clean, I was in a group business meeting. We were discussing changes to the Basic Text, and the secretary made a point of asking me what I thought. I knew right away that NA was unique.\"
Anonymity calls on us to try to remain anonymous in our service to NA, but it can sometimes be more difficult than it sounds. Members who have started a new meeting may end up hearing others call it \"so-and-so\'s meeting.\" It can take a while to shake loose a label like that for the meeting, no matter how many times so-and-so says, \"It\'s the Just for Today meeting, not my meeting!\"
Other times, we may feel less inclined to practice anonymity in our service. It\'s easy to become very attached to a particular service position or role we have filled, and some of us become reluctant to allow others to step up and serve. \"I had an H&I panel for almost a decade, and a member with five years clean showed up at a subcommittee meeting offering to take on a panel. The subcommittee chairperson looked right at me and asked if I was ready to practice the spirit of rotation. Although part of me resisted, I knew it was time.\"
Groups and service bodies need anonymity, too. A member who served at the area level shared, \"Our area nearly left our region over a resentment. The area spent hours debating a regional motion and sent in a strenuous \'no\' vote. Then the region passed it anyway! We were mad, but our area discussed it again and decided that we needed our region more than we needed to be \'right.\'\"
Anonymity sometimes just means being willing to let things go. We can be conscientious and take pride in contributing our best, but then we let go. We do our part, and then we let a power greater than ourselves manage the results. |
| ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— |
| My contributions to NA are important because they touch addicts\' lives. I can serve without insisting on getting my way, and I can step out of the way to give others a chance to serve, too. |